Instantaneous truck loading shovel



April 25, 1944. R. A. BKWITI-I 2,347,456

INSTANTANEOUS TIRUCK LOADING SHOVEL Filed Feb. 15, 1943 Sheets-Sheet 1 April 25, 1944. R. A. BECKWITH v 2,347,456

- INSTANTANEQUS TRUCK LOADING SHOVEII I Filed Feb. 15, 1843 2 Sheeiis-Sheet 2 42 4a 27, gaE- Patented Apr. 25, i944 august IN STAN TANEGUS 'ARUCK LQADHNG SEO Raymond A. Beckwith, Milwaukee, Wis.,

to Koehring Company,

VEL

assignor Milwaukee, Wis.

Application February 15, 1943, Serial No. 475,986 9 Claims. (Cl. 214-132) The purpose of this invention has been to design a novel type of excavating and loading machine, a machine of the crane type in which digging is performed by an excavating dipper or shovel adapted to be elevated to a dumping position and caused to discharge its load into a loading device in the form of an elevated bin. The loading device bin is designed to be of many times the capacity of the dipper, so that the latter, by substantially continuous operation, may excavate and load dirt or other materials into the bin, the bin having a storage capacity such that it may be operated very quickly to load a truck or other carrying vehicle almost instantaneously. I

My present invention represents a further improvement upon the similar type of machine set forth and described in my copending application for patent executed January 5, 1943, serial No. 474,334, filed February 1, 1943.

A primary object of the improvements of this invention has been to so design the excavating means and the loading bin apparatus of the machine that the same will be applicable to crane units or bodies of the common type at present in use comprising a swing body or cab having the operating mechanism and mounted upon a suitable mobile traction base. There is accomplished by the above improved design the advantage of convertibility of the machine of the invention from an excavating and vehicle loading machine, not requiring the turning or swinging of the swing body for supplying the excavated material from the excavating dipper to the place of discharge thereof, to an ordinary type of crane or excavating shovel when and if the conversion may be found desirable.

By. the use of a machine in accordance with the improvements of this invention the manufacturer may supply the combined excavating crane and'vehicle loading instrumentalities, as a unit; or he may send out the machine as an ordinary shovel, dragline, or clamshell excavator, later to be converted into the first type of machine when desired or susceptible of this conversion at any time.

More specifically speaking, my new machine, as a combined unit, comprises the main instrumentalities of an ordinary crane excavator including the traction base, the swinging body, or cab, and a special type of excavating dipper or shovel, together with a loading bin which is mounted upon the swinging or rotating body and itself capable of rotation upon the body, as well as susceptible of a tilting dumping operation for ly, at the point 1 with a slide or actuating block 8. The block 8 is mounted to slide horizontally efiectlng substantially instantaneous loading of a vehicle brought up to the crane at the proper place relative thereto.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation'of a preferred exemplification of the invention, full lines showing the dipper in its lowered position ready for excavating operation, and dotted lines showing the position of the dipper when elevated to two of its different positions assumed in the operation of discharging the contents of the dipper into the loading bin, dotted lines also showing the loading bin tilted as when being dumped.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the same.

Figure 3 is a front elevation of the same.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing more fully the operating connection between the thrust block and dipper sticks by which the dipper is caused to move in its excavating and retracting operations.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view showing more particularly the swing shafts for the operation of the swing body of the machine and the operation of the turntable by which the loading bin may be rotated to different dumping positions preliminary to discharging its contents into a vehicle near the machine.

In the drawings A denotes the base frame of a crawler traction base or portable support of my excavating machine, said support including the usual spaced crawlers i, and said frame supporting the usual type of turntable 2 equipped with a ring gear 3 andsupported by the customary rollers so as to rotate upon the crawler base. The turntable 2 supports the swing or rotating body B of the machine after the manner of the customary construction of excavating cranes. v

' Now upon the body B is carried the dipper 5 adapted to be moved back and forth forwardly and rearwardly, as shown in Figure 1, to perform its digging function at the digging edge or teeth to. The dipper 5 is carried by dipper sticks '5 arranged in spaced relation and having pivotal connection, as seen in Figures 2 and a most clearbetween upper and lower guides 9 which are connected together at their ends as shown at W to limit the forward and rearward movements of the member 8. Guide flanges 8a of theblock 8 pre vent lateral displacement thereof from between the guides 9. I

An endless chain or equivalent operating device I I is connected to the block or slide 8 for shifting the same slidably forward or rearward in the guides 9, and said chain Ii passes around suitable sprockets mounted upon suitable shafts carried on the framework of the swing body B of the machine.

The body B carries an A-frame C and in this A-frame is mounted a transverse shaft l2, the ends of which have suitable bearings in the spaced side portions of the said A-frame C. On the shaft I2 is carried an elongated roller l3, and this roller is disposed in a position to be contacted by or engaged by the dipper sticks 6 when the dipper is elevated to the dotted line positions as shown in Figure 1.

The swing body B of the crane or excavator carries the usual engine or motor D, the shaft of which is adapted to drive 'a large sprocket gear I 4 mounted on the axis I5 carrying a gear or pinion l6 engaging a larger gear I! on the shaft It. The shaft [8 i connected by a sprocket thereon and the sprocket chain iii to the drive,

shaft 20 which carries the inner sprocket around which the dipper actuated chain ll operates. In turn, the shaft I5 is connected by the sprocket chain 2| to a sprocket supported on the drum shaft 22 that carries the cable drum 23 about which the cable 24 operates. This cable 24 leads upwardly from the drum 23 over a sheave 25 on top of the A-frame C and thence down around equalizing pulleys or sheave 26 on the dipper, thence back upwardly over a sheave 21 on top of the A-frame to a suitable point of dead-end 28.

By the operation of the drum 23 through the customary clutch instrumentalities provided on the swing body B for connecting and disconnecting the drum 23 from the shaft 22, it will be obvious that the cable 24 may be actuatedto raise and lower the dipper 5.

By the operation of suitable reversing clutch instrumentalities, not shown, the actuating chain ceive a load of material brought up and discharged into it by the dipper 5.

The bin E is mounted on a turntable supported by rollers 36, running on a track 34a, the tumtable, designated 31, being carried by the top surface of the body B. The underside of the bin E is equipped with a ring gear 3., and a swin pinion 35a engages said ring gear for turning the bin E under the actuation of the shaft 34a as driven by the shaft 32a. and bevel gear Ila. The bevel gear am meshes with reversing bevel gears on the shaft 30a, the driving actions of which are controlled by the clutch levers 33a and 34a.

By the controlling clutch levers II and 34, and the similar levers 33a and 34a, the swing body B of the crane may be rotated in either of opposite directions, and likewise the loading bin E may be rotated in either of opposite directions.

The loading bin E is pivoted at so as to be tilted to a dumping position illustrated in dotted lines in Figure l, and back to its normal horizontal position shown in full lines in said figure.

H may be caused to operate with its upper lap moving forwardly or rearwardly, thereby actuating the block or slide 8 in corresponding directions for imparting to the dipper 5 its thrust or digging, and its retracting movement incident to its excavating operation.

The operators station on the swing or cab body B it at the seat 29 where he is in convenient adjacency to operating levers, foot pedals, and pull members, which comprise the control instrumentalities on the body B.

The body B is caused to rotate or swing by a swing shaft 30 vertically disposed about the middle portion of the body and driven in any suitable way by a bevel gear 3| on an operating shaft 32.

Suitable clutches controlled by theclutch levers 33 and 34 are adapted to effect reverse operations of the shaft 30 driven by the shaft 32 for turning the swing pinion or gear 35 which engages the ring gear 3 in corresponding opposite directions. In this Way the swing body B may be turned or rotated in either of opposite directions, after the manner of the ordinary swinging of the body of a crane excavator. In fact, the swing mechanism may be substantially that employed on a crane excavator of the types known today as the full swing body cranes- Now on top of the body or cab B is mounted the loading bin E, the same comprising sides, an inner closed end, and a bottom, but open at its outer end., The body of the bin E, when viewed in top plan, is circular at it closed end, so that, since the bin is adapted to rotate, its inner portion will always turn in a position in which it will re- The tilting means comprises hydraulic or air cylinders or rams 40, the lower ends of which are pivoted to the rotative base supporting the bin, and the piston rods of which are connected to the sides of the bin. Compressed air from a reservoir 41 may be supplied to the cylinders or rams 4| at their lower ends through flexible conduits 42, thereby to actuate the pistons and piston rods for pushing the latter upwardly in the cylinders and thereby causing the tilting operation of the bin E. A valve 43 in a pipe line 44 leading from the reservoir 4| to the conduits 42, is controllable by a rod 45 and hand operated bell crank lever 48 to supply the compressed air or other fluid medium to the rams 40. A suitable pump 41 driven by a sprocket chain 48 from the drive shaft 20 operates the pump 42 for supplying the fluid actuating medium to the reservoir 4|.

The dipper 5 may be equipped with a latch 49 normally engaging the discharge door 50, and the pull cable 5| of said latch 43 may be attached to a bell crank lever 52 on one of the dipper sticks 6 so that when the dipper 5 reaches its upper 1eftmost position, depicted in dotted lines in Figure 1, the lever 52 will engage the trip pin 53 on one side of the A-frame, thereby to automatically actuate the latch 49 to permit opening of the door 50 and discharging of the contents of the dipper into the bin E.

-The centerpin of the rotatable bin or hopper E is shown at 54 in Figure 5. That of the swing body B is not shown but is conventional as used in crane excavators. The traction base A and crawlers i may be driven by traction means as shown and described in Brey Patent No. 1,947,823, issued February 20, 1934, as a conventional'type, or other known means may be availed of if desired such as employed commonly in the art.

It is obvious that the slide or block 8 is a floating support in the body B to which the dipper sticks 6 are connected.

Describing different operative phases of the action of my machine, reference is made particularly to Figures 1 and 2. In these figures the bin E is disposed longitudinally of the cab or body B, and the excavating dipper 5 withits sticks i is disposed longitudinally of the body B, a position which it always maintains as to this particular relation. In theillustrations of the figures referred to, the dipper 5 willdig forwardly in advance of the machine as an incident to the reciprocating of the actuating slide or block 3. Then, upon the elevation of the dipper 5 through the winding of the cable 24 upon the drum 25 the dipper unit will be elevated to the first dotted line position at the right in Figure 1 until the dipper sticks 6 engage with the roller l3. At this time the clutch, which drives the chain It from the driving sprocket therefor, is driving the upper lap of the chain to the right as seen in Figure 1, so that the dipper may shift from the inclined position of the stick 6 at the right in dotted lines in Figure 1, to the inclined position denoted by the dotted lines at the left in Figure 1, the latter being the dumping position, at which point the discharge door 50 is released from the latch. 01' course, in the operation of the machine, the operator may become su-fiiciently adept to coordinate the elevating movement of the dipper such that when it reaches an approximately vertical position with its sticks 6, the driving clutch for the sprocket chain It may be released and the rearward inertia of the dipper 5 with its load may carry the load and dipper over the dead-center position between the dotted line positions illustrated in Figure 1, and as the dipper reaches its leftward dotted line position of Figure l, the automatic discharging thereof will take place.

Now we come to the condition that the operator wishesto dig with the dipper 5 operating at a leftward or rightward angle to the traction base A. Under these conditions. by controlling the clutches operable by the levers 35 and 34, the body B will be swung upon the traction base through turning of the turntable at the base frame of the body B until the body B is disposed at the angle desired to enable the digging action of the bucket or dipper 5 in the direction desired. Of course, during this turning movement, to adjust the body B for the digging action of the dipper 5 as stated, the bin E will turn because it is supportedby the body B. However, the condition of operation being described assumes that the bin or dumping hopper E is intended to dump into vehicles that come up to the machine at the previously disposed rear end of the body. So to maintain the proper position of the bin E for accomplishing such dumping into the vehicles to be loaded, the operator, by manipulation of the proper clutch leverof the upper levers 33a and 34a, will turn the bin E to the desired position now angularly related to the body B instead of longitudinal thereof, enabling the dumping to be eifected with the bin in the same general position as it assumed prior to the shifting or rotating of the crane body B to adjust the dipper 5 to operate at an angle to the traction base.

From the foregoing it will be noted that a very flexible control of the relation between the digging positions of the dipper 5 as supported by the crane body B, and the discharging or loading posi tions of the bin or hopper E, is obtained. The

hopper E can be adjusted at right angles to the body B or any position intermediate a disposition approximately at right angles to a position longitudinal of the body.

The design of the machine as presented and preferred, according to the drawings hereof, calls for an elevated bin E which is desirably employed where the loading of the dirt excavated by the dipper 5 is to be accomplished by emptying the bin into trucks or vehicles brought up to the machine. to haul away the dirt. However, the machine may be used so that the bin E is disposed transversely to the body B of the crane, and, as the crane digs in a forward direction longitudinal to the traction base. the excavated material may be deposited inthe bin E and the latter dumped so as to As previously outlined in reference to the de- I scription of the discharge door 58 of the dipper 5, the action of this discharge door to open and deposit the materials in the dipper 5 into the bin E is automatic. However, the automatic control may be manual, if desired, especially since the disposition of the dipper sticks 6 is such that they are adjacent to the operator when the discharge position of the dipper 5 is assumed and he can readily control the discharging manually. To the above end, the automatic stop or abutment 53 may be adjustable so as not to engage the bell crank lever 52, whereupon manual control of the discharging of the dipper 5 may be assumed.

The operating or driving sprocket at the left hand end of the chain II will be under the control of reversible clutch means capable of assuming a neutral position, conventional clutch devices being employed for this purpose. The digging action of the dipper 5, as previously su gested, is caused by throwing in the clutch means for the said driving sprocket of the chain ll,

driving the upper lap of the chain rightward, as seen in Figure 1, for digging action of the member 5, and then retracting the member by reversing the direction of movement of the upper lap of the chain l l and again causing the dipper 5to move rightward with digging effect in the excavating operation.

The drum 23 for the cable 24 is operated by conventional clutch and brake instrumentalities commonly such as used on cranes for elevating the ordinary dipper and dipper sticks mounted upon the ordinary boom so as to be crowded out and retracted, or racked in. Obviously, the clutch for the drum 23 is thrown in towind up the cable 24 and released to permit the cable to unwind from the drum in the downward movement of the dipper 5, at which time the brake means is applied to retard and control said downward movement. The use of the foregoing conventional means is desirable because, as indicated before herein, it is contemplated. that the machine of the invention may be used as a conventional type of crane excavator employed for operating a dipper shovel, a dragline, or a clamshell' bucket. Under such conditions, the bin E may not be provided as a part of the equipment of the crane, though the instrumentalities enabling the mounting of the bin upon the crane will be used in the event converting the conventional type of crane into a crane of the type of the machine illustrated, may be desired. To use the crane of the illustrated invention for the conventional crane purposes of dipper shovel, dragline, or clamshell units, it is only necessary to mount upon the body B the required boom and.

bucket units that are commonly employed, and

the mechanism housed in the crane body B may always be ready, practically speaking, to supply a load of material to the trucks that are coming up to the. machine to receive a load and carry off the same to a dumping point. By the above construction, a high degree of efllciency of continuous excavating operations and corresponding efilciency in respect to loading vehicles, plus practically instantaneous loading operation of the vehicles by the bin E, are obtained.

Having thus described my invention, what; I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. In an excavating crane of the class described, in combination, a traction base, a full circle swing body mounted upon the traction base, excavating instrumentalities carried by the swing body, a swing bin or hopper mounted on the swing body, and means for operating the excavating instrumentalities so that material excavated thereby may be carried to and discharged into the swing bin or hopper.

2. An excavating crane as claimed in claim 1, combined with rotating means for the bin wherein the last mentioned means includes elevating and discharging devices for the excavating instrumentalities.

3. In an excavating crane of the class described, in combination, a traction base adapted to be propelled along the site of excavation, a full circle rotatable body mounted upon the traction base, a dipper carried by said body, means for operating the dipper to effect excavating action thereof, a rotatable bin supported by the rotatable body, and instrumentalities for operating said dipper when loaded with material excavated to effect movement thereof to the bin to discharge its contents into the latter.

4. In an excavating crane of the class described, in combination, a traction base adapted to be advanced along the site of excavation, a full circle rotating swing body carried by the traction base, a reciprocable dipper mounted upon the body, means for eifecting rotation of the swing body upon the base to adjust the body and thereby the dipper to a proper position for excavating work of the dipper, a rotatable swing bin or hopper mounted upon the swing body, means for rotating the hopper or bin independently of the swing body to adjust the same relatively to the latter to assume difierent dumping or loading positions, and instrumentalities for causing excavating movement of the dipper and for actuating the latter to discharge its contents to the block in opposite directions to correspondingly crowd the dipper and retract it respectin the .work, the means for discharging the dipper into the bin including hoisting instrumentalities for raising the dipper to an elevated position above the bin, and automatic means to effect the discharge of the dipper into the bin when the dipper has reached a position above the bin.

6. An excavating crane as claimed in claim 4, in which the last mentioned means includes a sliding block supported upon the rotating body, a

pivotal connection between the dipper and said.

block, means. for imparting a sliding movement to the block in opposite directions to correspondingly crowd the dipper and retract it respecting the work, the means for discharging the dipper into the bin including hoisting instrumentalities for raising the dipper to an elevated position above the bin, and means operable to tilt the bin to partially or fully discharge its load by dumping action.

'7. In an excavating crane, in combination, a traction base, a body or cab carried by said base, a dipper unit carried by the body and comprising a dipper and dipper sticks extending from the dipper to the body, a floating support on the body pivotally connected with the dipper sticks of the dipper, means for elevating the dipper from excavating position to a discharge position, means for actuating the floating support as the elevating means is operated to carry the pivotal connection between the dipper sticks and the body to a position causing the dipper to move beyond a dead-center position of the floating supporting means to a discharge position, and roller means for contact with the dipper sticks at a predetermined point in th elevating movement of the dipper for controlling and limiting such elevating movement.

8. In an excavating crane of the class described, in combination, a traction base, a swing body rotatively mounted upon the traction base, a swing bin rotatively mounted upon the rotative swing body above the latter, an excavating dipper carried by the swing body and movable at an end thereof to eflect excavation action, and means for elevating saiddipper to carry the same into a position of discharge into the rotative bin carried by said body in whatever position of rotative adjustment may be assumed by said bin.

9. An excavating crane as set forth in claim 8, in which the traction base carries a turntable supporting the swing body and in which the swing body carries a turntable supporting the rotative bin, combined with instrumentalities for tilting the swing bin from a horizontal position in whatever position is assumed by said bin in its rotative adjustment.

RAYMOND A. BECKWI'IH. 

